Web Essay Part I

Introduction:

How has the Internet changed the way opportunities for socially marginalized groups connect so that they can support themselves?

According to CBS.com, there are hundreds of websites devoted to Anorexia that do not prevent the behavior. Instead, these websites promote it and offer tips in maintaining the illness.
Through the use of search engines such as Google.com and Yahoo.com, hundreds of websites can be found that promote Anorexia. These websites allow people from different parts of the world to connect in order to exchange diet tips, pictures, videos, poetry and advice. On the internet, this phenomenon is known as “thinspiration”.

The ideology of Thinspiration is expressed and shared through the means of independent promotional websites such as pro-thinspo.com and social networks such as Youtube.com, Facebook.com, Myspace.com, Livejournal.com and Xanga.com, Blogger.com. Such networks allow users to form communities in which they can interact with one another without having to leave the comfort of their home. Many of the users cover their faces in pictures in order to keep their identity anonymous.

Without the internet, communities such as these could not exist. People can easily speak to each other through means of internet and exchange countless ideas in order to support such habits and lifestyle. Without the internet, people would have to network face to face. This would allow their identities to be revealed. Because the topic of anorexia is taboo, people with this eating disorder have difficulty expressing their views and thoughts about their lifestyle without wearing a disguise. Through the internet, an anorexic person can find reassurance in their unhealthy habit by means of thinspirational networking. Through the internet, anorexics can join support groups that promote their lifestyle. Without the internet, anorexics would have a harder time finding reassurance in their lifestyles because society considers their habits as destructive.

Web Essay Design

http://kairos.technorhetoric.net/12.1/binder.html?topoi/warner/index.html
I want my website simple. I’m not looking into fancy fonts of special features.

Wikipedia entry update part 3

I have officially been blocked by Wikipedia. I was going to change my entry today for the ProAna article but instead, I recieved this pleasant message in my email.

User talk:Castilan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Welcome to Wikipedia. Although everyone is welcome to contribute constructively to the encyclopedia, one or more of the external links you added to the page pro-mia do not comply with our guidelines for external links and have been removed. Wikipedia is not a collection of links; nor should it be used for advertising or promotion. Since Wikipedia uses nofollow tags, external links do not alter search engine rankings. If you feel the link should be added to the article, please discuss it on the article's talk page before reinserting it. Please take a look at the welcome page to learn more about contributing to this encyclopedia. Thank you. Natalie (talk) 01:47, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

This user has been blocked indefinitely from editing Wikipedia.(see: block log • contributions • deleted contributions • page moves • current autoblocks)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Castilan"

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So now I learned that you can not copy and paste your own entry from one article into another, even though the topics are the same and you wrote the entry.
I also learned that Wikipedia is constantly updating and validating their sources and entries.

Maybe I can use a diffrent computer with a diffrent IP address and create a diffrent user name in order to make another entry. This time, I'll be more careful with my citations and references. I thought I had a valid reference, but they considered it SPAM.

Update on Wikipedia Entry

It seems as if Wikipedia has been fighting with me lately. They've taken my post down about five times already. I've tried to edit my post and have added as well as removed the links to the websites, for they considered it "promotional fluff". If they keep taking my entry down, I will make some more modifications and add links to my sources. This is my current entry:

There are also independent "thinspirational" promotional websites that have surfaced the internet over the past decade. Domains such as these are specifically created to promote eating disorders (though sometimes are disguised as "anti-ana" and "anti-mia" with disclaimers written in the main pages) and often include the following:
promotional membership offers
gossip about thin celebrities followed by pictures of them at different weights in their life
links to websites of various diets and weight control products such as "Weightloss Lollipops"
starvation tips
products that are sold to promote anorexia and bulimia, such as a thinspired piggy banks (every time a person wants to eat, they put their money in the piggy bank as a reminder to diet)
links to music, lyrics and musicians that relate to body image and encourage weight loss
poetry and stories related to anorexia and bulimia
pictures of not only celebrities, but men and women from different countries that suffer from eating disorders [8]
pictures of food and obesity to discourage people from eating
Such websites are not affiliated with online groups such as Xanga, LiveJournal, Facebook and Myspace.

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I added my entry to the pro-mia site. here's a link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pro-mia

Wikipedia entry update part 2

I just created my Wikipedia entry under the pro-ana section. I've added this entry to what they already have. I created the "Promotional Website" section. This is what I wrote:

== Promotional Websites ==
There are also independent "thinspo" promotional websites that have surfaced the internet over the past decade. These domains are specifically created to promote eating disorders (though sometimes are disguised as "anti-ana" and "anti-mia" with disclaimers written in the main pages) and often include the following:

*gossip about thin celebrities followed by pictures of them at different weights in their life
*links to websites of various diets and weight control products such as "Hoodia Lollipops"
*starvation tips*products that are sold to promote anorexia and bulimia, such as a "pro thinspo piggy bank" (every time a person wants to eat, they put their money in the piggy bank as a reminder to diet)
*links to music, lyrics and musicians that relate to body image and encourage weight loss*poetry and stories related to anorexia and bulimia
*pictures of not only celebrities, but men and women from different countries that suffer from eating disorders
*pictures of food and obesity to discourage people from eating
Such websites are not affiliated with online groups such as [[Xanga]], [[LiveJournal]], [[Facebook]] and [[Myspace]].

here is a link to the pro ana section. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pro-ana my user name is Castilan

Wikipedia entry update

For my wikipedia entry, I'll be reorganizing a section in the proana entry. I'm going to post some information on promotional websites for proanorexia. There's a website called pro-thinspo.com. I will ellaborate on the contents of such websites . Wikipedia only features a small section about pro anorexia online community groups such as myspace and facebook.

Research Update

As far as my research is going, I’ve found more interesting websites that have thousands of links to proanorexic images, starvation tips and forums. Upon reading the entries on Wikipedia, I realized that there are no links to such websites on the proanorexia entry. I do fear that linking these websites may be harmful to young impressionable girls. If they search Wikipedia and find these links, they will have direct access to websites that can potentially influence and support their unhealthy behavior. Then again, if a person is determined to find such websites, all they need is knowledge of the internet, time and patience. These websites are not hard to find, especially with the evolution of search engines such as google, yahoo, chacha, ask.com etc.


I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed with all the information that I am bombarded with on these websites. From pro anorexic dietary tips, to poetry, stories, images, social networks such as MySpace, online communities on facebook there are so many links and sources for this entire community. This is a controversial topic that has been debated over and over again. I have gathered news information via, youtube and news websites